Developing Social Work in Vietnam: Issues in Professional Education

Abstract

The growth of professional social work in Vietnam took a major step forward in 2004, with the approval of a new national curriculum for universities to teach degrees in social work. This article briefly examines the history of social work in Vietnam to provide background to these developments and then examines key questions facing Vietnamese social work education. These include issues of how professional education for social work is structured and integrated within universities, how social work educators are appropriately trained and how practicum opportunities are developed in a context where a formal profession of social work is still emerging. It is argued that while Vietnamese social work education must be understood as part of the global range of approaches to professional training, it is also vital for Vietnam to engage with the process of developing an authentic Vietnamese approach.

Keywords:

• Social Work Education
• Professionalisation
• Vietnam
• ‘Indigenisation’/‘Reconceptualisation’

Acknowledgements

The material and ideas on which this article has drawn have benefitted from the contributions of many colleagues. In particular the authors would like to acknowledge Bui Xuan Mai, Nguyen Thi Oanh and Nguyen An Lich for their advice and support at various stages in the work on which this discussion is based.

Notes

1. Mass organisations are a major feature of social life in Vietnam. As the notion implies, they have mass membership, with large numbers of people involved in the local branches of organisations such as the Youth Union and the Women's Union. These are voluntary organisations, which exist to provide service in local communities and to encourage people to be involved in the society, especially at a local level.